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The Languages of Phios
In the times of the Old Volatian Empire, the nobility (known as the archi) spoke a tongue known as Higher Volatian. While this language is still spoken in rare cases today, the most common language is now Low Volatian, which was the tongue of the vast majority of Volatian people, and as such spread across the Old Volatian Empire. The two language are similar in some words and have the same grammar rules, and as such someone speaking Low Volatian can understand snippets of Higher, and vice versa. Apart from Low Volatian, known to many as Common, Liberian has also become a language of traders and merchants who travel Phios. The language is passed on from the ancient Liberian people, travellers and merchants themselves, who settled colonies on Esus and Cosus. Liberian (Old Italian) The language of the ancient Liberian people, many modern languages are derived from Liberian, and native Liberian speakers can understand snippets of some conversations in other languages.' Languages of the Volatian Empire Volatian Tongues The languages of Volatia are divided into two distinct groups. The original language of the Volatian people is High Volatian, but over time it has been corrupted into Lower Volatian, also known as Common. The Volatian tongues are a combination of the native languages of the ancient Mensk and Volatian people. High Volatian (Latin) Filled with high, floating tones, as well as harsh chops, High Volatian is the native language of the Volatian people, but only the rich and well educated learn how to read, write, and speak it. Low Volatian (Common) (English) The tongue of the common people, Low Volatian has become spread throughout much of Phios by the trade of the Empire. The language is most often used by merchants and traders, and as such has become something of an international dialect. Common has become the main language of Shenk, due to its position as a nation funded almost purely on trade and mercantilism. Prada (Spanish) Evolving from the ancient tongue of the Liberians, Prada is similar to High Volatian, common and Venytian, as well as other tongues spoken by descendants of the proud race of the Liberians. Prada is spoken predominantly in its native Pradera ' Draest (German) A quick and sharp tongue that draws heavily from the languages spoken by the ancient Mensk people. Has many similarities to common and other Menskian tongues. Most commonly spoken in its homeland of Draestan. Esnerish (Old English) The language of the Esnerish Peninsula and its people, the language of Esnerish shares many commonalities with common. In fact, the two languages are almost identical; this is because common itself was spread by the predominant traders of Volatia, who were almost exclusively all Esnerish. As such, overtime common has grown and evolved from its roots in the Esnerish language, but the two are still widely similar. The Dragontongue The language of dragons and their kin, most notably the dragonborn of Vesuvia. The dragontongue is also spoken throughout the northernmost areas of North Sufeem, as these regions used to be occupied by the dragonborn before they were pushed back across the Strait of Vesuvia. Keemish (French) A strange frankenstein of a language, derived in equal parts from the tongue of the gnomes, and that of the ancient people of Liber. Many gnomes now exclusively speak Keemish, and the only hold-over from their original tongue is the mostly written language of Arcaneum. In the Kingdom of Keem, the language itself has become a sign of human-gnomish unity. In fact, it is widely held that the word ‘Keem’ itself is descended from a gnomish word meaning ‘us’ or ‘ours’. The concept of possessives is not extremely developed in gnomish, making the exact translation hazy. Venytian (Italian) The language of Venys is closely derived from the tongue of the Liberians. It shared many similarities with other such tongues, but Venytian has the distinct privilege of being able to draw a direct linguistic evolution from the language spoken in the great Republic of Liber, to its modern incarnation in Venytian. Ludi (Old Russian) The language of the Luda, closely tied to Gratian and other Mensk-derived tongue. A harsh and grating language, that seems to have linguistically devolved with the primitive Luda people. Gratian (Russian) Somewhat uniqley, Gratian has had a strange evolutionary path as a language. Originally it was derived from a combination of Dol’Kolash, Common, and Ludi, but the unique cultural influence of the area have made the tongue eerily similar to its Menskan predecessor. Dol’Kolash (Arabic) Sinese (Japanese) The beautiful flowing tongue of the Sinese people, based closely on the alphabet of the Van-Keen peoples. Sinese combines some interesting routes from Vanese and Keenese, as well as Liberian to create a strangely adaptable language. Van-Keen Vanese (Modern Chinese Very similar to the language of Keenese, so much so that the two are widely considered to simply be different dialects of the same tongue. Vanese sounds harsher than Sinese, with a clipped accent that is much less artful but much more refined and regular. '' Keenese (Chinese) Once again very similar to Vanese, plus or minus a few slightly different pronunciations. Speakers of the two tongues can understand each other almost perfectly, thanks to the two language splitting not so long ago. Recent reunification into the Van-Keen empire has meant that boundaries between the two twin tongues are slowly eroding. Sufe (“Zulu”) The native language of Sufeem, and the dominant language on the continent. Sounds widely independent from most other languages within Phios, having come from a unique linguistic and cultural history. Fyrir (Norse) The language of the Fyrir people of the far north. Sounds similar to the languages of the Luda and Gratian, and has some peripheral similarities to the Volatian tongues, thanks to their shared heritage in the language of the ancient Mensk people. Arcaneum The language of magic; closely related to the Keemish of the gnomes that created this dialect. Arcaneum is what most scrolls and magical tomes are written in, and as such it does not have a strong spoken dialect. Rather, Arcaneum is a mostly written tongue, and most of those who ‘speak’ this language can only read and write it. As Arcaneum is descended from the gnomish language that predated Keemish, it contains many sounds and vowels that the human mouth finds near impossible to form, and being able to speak it is a useless feat only acquired by a rare few cloistered arch mages and scholars.